Here's what it looked like when I got it home...
The Speaker...
The Radio chassis...
The magic eye tube...
Here is the radio chassis out of the cabinet. What a mess.
Here it is all cleaned up...
On to fixing up the cabinet. After a good cleaning, I glued and clamped up the parts that were broken off. The next day, I stripped off the old finish.
I happened to find a small remnant of the original grill cloth. I'll be researching and trying to find a matching replacement.
I glued up some remaining loose pieces at the end the day. The next day, I spent more time stripping and sanding. With a little help in the decision making from my wife, I decided to go ahead and use a little stain to even all the coloring up. We've decided to go ahead and make the two horizontal stripes and the vertical bars in front of the speaker darker than the rest of the radio. I'll do that tomorrow.
Jon, This radio looks great. I have the same model that belonged to my grandfather. I was hoping to restore it, but the wood is damaged around the base. Everything is in working order, It is more of an apearance restore. Any advice?
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's still a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteAs far as repairing the wood at the bottom goes, I suppose it all depends on what the damage is. The one I have looks like it sat for a while in a garage or basement. Some of the wood was rotted. In my particular case, I didn't feel it was much of a problem. I just sanded it lightly and stained and lacquered it. Is that the kind of damage you are talking about?
I wish I had some good advice. If you are comfortable with wood working, you could always make new parts. The base is basically in seven parts. Two sides, one front and two pairs of blocks that make up the corners. As old as these are, you should be able to pop them apart and replace any damaged section. If that's not your thing, you may consider wood filler for any missing chunks. Mind you, I'm no expert!
My goal was not necessarily to make this look like new. I kind of like some dings and distresses here and there in old things. It gives them character.
Jon
I'm looking to do the same thing as you, on mine. It belonged to my grandfather and I have pictures of it, I could send. I thought to lightly sand, stain and lacquere. Any idea's? Should I use a stripper first? My number is 906-322-4658. Thx, Joe
ReplyDelete